{"id":41776,"date":"2019-03-27T15:10:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T14:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/?p=41776"},"modified":"2019-03-28T13:15:50","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T12:15:50","slug":"aegee-turns-greener-how-epm-izmir-tackled-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/2019\/03\/27\/aegee-turns-greener-how-epm-izmir-tackled-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"AEGEE turns greener: how EPM Izmir tackled sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been more than one month since AEGEE-Izmir was in the spotlight of the AEGEE network:  on 6<\/em>th<\/sup><\/em> \u2013 10<\/em>th<\/sup><\/em> of February, the antenna hosted the annual European Planning Meeting (EPM), where new objectives for the organization were set out and relevant topics – \u201cgreen sustainability\u201d and \u201cEU-Turkey relations\u201d – were heatedly discussed. The AEGEEan talked to the main organizer <\/em>Batuhan \u00c7ar\u0131k\u00e7\u0131<\/em><\/strong> to find out more about the event – and not only.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thank you for talking to us, Batuhan! Why did you apply to host European Planning Meeting 2019 in the first place?<\/strong>

Basically, after the big positive development of AEGEE \u0130zmir since 2016, the local needed a \u201cgood challenge\u201d to strengthen its status in the network and keep the motivation of its members on top level. And actually, applying to host a statutory event wasn\u2019t one of the objectives of the agenda during the previous local Agora, but after seeing a few open calls for the EPM 2019, we didn\u2019t want to miss this chance to prepare our members for this challenge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a big antenna now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently more than 100 registered members, with around 40 of them actively volunteering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
AEGEE-Eski\u015fehir table in fair<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How many participants and organizers took part?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\n were 85 official participants, 20 AEGEE \u0130zmir members partly as \nparticipants and partly as organizers and 20 national and international \norganizers, namely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refik Bar\u0131\u015f \u00d6z\u00e7elik as Vice Coordinator
Efe Erg\u00fcz as Treasurer
Melis K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7 as Incoming Responsible
G\u00fcl Hira Turan as HR Responsible
Kayra Deniz \u00c7etin as PR Responsible
Mehmet Ali D\u00f6m as Logistics and
Marie Claire Graf and Anne-Sophie Klein Gebbink as Content Managers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You chose a highly relevant and quite controversial main theme for the EPM – green sustainability. Would you say it\u2019s a big topic in Turkey?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, I don\u2019t think people take \u201cgreen sustainability\u201d as a big topic yet, unfortunately. Turkey has currently many other issues to deal with, like corruption, social unrest and economic instability. Apart from that, there is the fact of \u201chaving been near the warzones of Iraq and Syria for many years\u201d next to them, so the labyrinth is getting more complicated and year by year we have more military expenses, rather than investing into sustainable solutions for the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Two Batuhans from Organizers<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is the government strategy on sustainability in Turkey? They have passed laws to reduce the consumption of plastic pouches like the EU.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are very rarely doing fine things, but this one was a good move, indeed. There\u2019s still long way to go though, especially in recycling. They should cooperate closer with all the municipalities, but of course if they can find some time to cooperate with them, instead of seeing them only as \u201ccastles to conquer\u201d. Apart from that, we should keep in mind that they are still trying to build fossil fuel plants around the country, as if we are in 20th<\/sup> Century. Fortunately, most of those attempts were precluded by strong cooperation between activists and some NGOs.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s now talk a bit about the host city. What is particularly famous about Izmir? What is the historical importance of the city?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its cuisine for sure! Sorry, I can\u2019t continue without talking about food! Izmir has a great variety of seafood and mezes, with the combination of the traditional alcoholic drink \u201crak\u0131\u201d, which includes anis. Next to it, the most famous beer brand of Turkey \u201cEfes\u201d (Ephesus in English) is coming from \u0130zmir. Apart from that, Izmir is a good destination for sun, sea and beach kind of holidays. She also has very rich options for history lovers, there are 15 ancient cities within her metropolitan borders, including the famous ones Ephesus and Pergamon! We can\u2019t help mentioning the very special anthem of Izmir. In past, it was symbolizing the liberation of \u0130zmir on 9th<\/sup> of September 1922, but today, after almost hundred years, it\u2019s symbolizing the political stand of \u0130zmir, independent from its lyrics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Last day group photo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How was the EPM? Are you satisfied with the outcomes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\n went much more comfortable and stress-free, when I compare to the \npreparation period. Here once again I want to highlight the perfect job \nof all our organizers and helpers during the event; their motivation and\n concentration was always high. Next to that, we had a very good group \nof participants, which I think did good job with creating an active vibe\n during the content part and drafting an impactful agenda for next year.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have plans for organizing more events like EPM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\n think, we are done with statutory events in Turkey -for now-. But, of \ncourse AEGEE \u0130zmir will keep organizing international events, and \nhopefully the number will get higher year by year.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than one month since AEGEE-Izmir was in the spotlight of the AEGEE network:  on 6th \u2013 10th of February, the antenna hosted the annual European Planning Meeting (EPM), where new objectives for the organization were set out and relevant topics – \u201cgreen sustainability\u201d and \u201cEU-Turkey relations\u201d – were heatedly discussed. The AEGEEan talked to the main organizer… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":41777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1356],"tags":[2374,453],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41776"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41786,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41776\/revisions\/41786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeus.aegee.org\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}